Scientists Want to Make Harming the Environment a War Crime

Forests burned to the ground. Rivers damaged by broken infrastructure. Animals slaughtered and driven from their habitats. The environmental impacts of war are staggering, yet they’re often overshadowed by the societal wreckage created by conflict.

Making harming the enviornment a war crime.

Now in a letter published in the scientific journal Nature, a group of scientists is urging the United Nations to make it a war crime to harm the environment during times of conflict. The UN’s International Law Commission is in talks through Aug. 8, and the scientists are calling on attending members to create a framework “to protect the environment in regions of armed conflict.”

“We call on governments to incorporate explicit safeguards for biodiversity, and to use the commission’s recommendations to finally deliver a Fifth Geneva Convention to uphold environmental protection during such confrontations,” the petition reads. 

Read the story from Global Citizen by Joe McCarthy and Erica Sanchez - “Scientists Want to Make Harming the Environment a War Crime.”

Labor climate policy requires scrutiny

The ALP’s announcement of key details of its climate policy on Monday was quickly overshadowed by the federal budget, but it could prove to be a more important document in the long-term if there is a change of government at the federal election.

The policy is complex and, unfortunately, the political debate on the details has been poor. Prime Minister Scott Morrison chose to respond to a question about climate policy in Parliament on Wednesday with a dad-joke impersonation of the slapstick character Borat from a 2006 movie.

The government’s failure to engage intellectually is giving the ALP too easy a ride. There are serious questions to be answered.

The ALP must show it has a practical plan that will achieve its promise to cut emissions by 2030 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels while at the same time keeping costs to a minimum.

Read the Editorial from The Age - “Labor climate policy requires scrutiny.”